Thanks to Steven Ross and Luke (@lukeorlucius) for the following WWE SmackDown spoilers from tonight’s tapings at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA. These will air on Tuesday’s New Year’s Day edition of SmackDown on the USA Network:
* The New Day kick off the show with their New Year’s Celebration. Big E, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston all cut promos and announce their spots in the Royal Rumble match
* Samoa Joe defeated Jeff Hardy by submission. Joe won with the Coquina Clutch. Joe earned a spot in the Fatal 5 Way main event with AJ Styles, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and Mustafa Ali
* Backstage segment with AJ Styles, Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon. AJ tells Vince he will see the real AJ Styles tonight. AJ then threatens Vince, causing an intense stand-off between Shane and AJ. Shane asks Vince if he really wants to see the real AJ Styles, and Vince laughs, then replies that he does
* WWE United States Champion Rusev and Lana are out for his championship celebration. Shinsuke Nakamura attacks from behind and Lana jumps on his back. Nakamura superkicks Rusev and injures Lana in the process. Nakamura then hits Rusev with a Kinshasa. Nakamura leaves while Rusev and Lana are laid out in the ring
* Sonya Deville defeated Naomi. It was really confusing how they did this. They came out to Rose’s music and it looked like she was wrestling Naomi but she backed out. The match started when Rose distracted Naomi and Deville hit her from behind. Deville later won with a Spinebuster. Rose distracted Naomi by showing a photo of herself on the big screen, saying she sent it to Jimmy Uso earlier. It was a photo of Rose wearing just a towel
* Backstage segments with Randy Orton and Mustafa Ali are shown, with them talking about tonight’s main event
* John Cena comes to the ring for a promo. Cena issues an open challenge but Becky Lynch interrupts and tells him that she’s the new man around WWE, and she’s taking his place. Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega interrupt. Vega talks trash to Becky and Cena. Cena challenges Vega and Almas to a tag team match, and they accept
* Becky Lynch and John Cena defeated Zelina Vega and Andrade “Cien” Almas. Cena hit his signature moves on Almas but Becky tossed Cena out of the ring and made Vega submit to the Dis-Arm-Her for the win
* Backstage segment with Shane McMahon and The Miz talking about how they dress for their new tag team
* Backstage segment with Triple H, SmackDown Women’s Champion Asuka, Carmella, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair on who will be the next #1 contender to Asuka’s title. The challenger will be determined at a later date
* AJ Styles won a Royal Rumble title shot from WWE Champion Daniel Bryan by winning a Fatal 5 Way over Mustafa Ali, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio and Samoa Joe. AJ pinned Orton after a 619 from Mysterio that saw Joe grab Rey before he could get the pin, crashing him to the outside of the ring. AJ then hit a springboard 450 splash for the pin on Orton to win the main event
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